


Dangerous Attraction

by StolenDance



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-26
Updated: 2014-12-07
Packaged: 2018-02-06 08:17:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1851004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StolenDance/pseuds/StolenDance
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Regina Mills is the school’s queen (or tyrant), loved by her little circle of friends and admired by the rest of the world. Emma is exactly what an actual queen should be: lovely, polite and hardworking. Now things don’t work that way, do they? The person in charge of her dorm has a few gold teeth, Mary Margaret owns too many shoes for her own good, and Ruby doesn’t really care anymore. What happens when two clashing personalities are forced to share the same room?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Settling In

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon A Time or any recognizable characters.
> 
> A/N: Hey everyone. So this is the first chapter of many hopefully for this story. It is a college AU which means no curse or anything and is set when everyone was younger. I hope you like it and reviews are more than welcomed since it's my first attempt at this and I will more than likely need some advice. 
> 
> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> StolenDance  
> -xox-

105, 106, 107 and finally... 108. Emma Swan was finally there. A new year was about to start: her second year of college. She had already spent a year in this university, whose reputation was highly ranked on the list. Being a sophomore meant that she already knew what she was signing up for. She was familiar with most of the buildings, so she had one less weight on her shoulders for which she was grateful for. However, she was only there on a bursary which was making her stick out from her fellow extremely rich classmates. Emma did not care though, because she only wanted to get her diploma and go as far away from this place as she possibly could. Plus, it wasn't that bad since she had made a new friend in Mary Margaret, a young woman she was rooming with last year and who unexpectedly, wasn't as bad as the others. Sure, she came from a rich family but she did not let it get to her head. She was down to earth and Emma admired that about her.

The blonde had arrived moments earlier to acquire the key to her dorm and was apparently assigned the 108. For some reason this number seemed familiar but she could not recall why. As she was walking in the hallway that led to her room, she found herself wondering who would be her roommate. She had been late to fill in the papers to ask for Mary Margaret to be her roommate again this year and had been mad at herself ever since. She could only hope to cohabit with a person who considered school as a way to shape one's future and who would allow her to work peacefully.

Emma continued her walk down the large hallway which led to her new room. It was still early in the morning and the dorm was quiet since no classes were scheduled before a couple of days and students usually liked to spend their last minutes of summer enjoying the freedom of the outside world. However, Emma had nowhere to go; Mary Margaret would not be in for another couple of hours and Emma had no family or other friends to say goodbye to. She only wanted to get a head start on her class subjects, having already read all the books assigned for the year.

Emma finally got to her room, her heart racing a bit from the excitement of meeting her new roommate. She took a deep breath before gently knocking on the door. She waited for a response but received none. She took out the small key and opened the door. She released a sigh of relief as she took in the view of her dorm. She was apparently the first one to arrive which meant the first one to choose which side of the room she wanted. The right side seemed perfect; it had a nice view of the campus' football field and a decent bed. Emma dropped her bags on her bed and began unpacking them. She did not have much to unpack and it took her less than an hour to settle in her new room. Emma looked at the clock: 11:30AM. She had around four hours to kill before her friend would get there so she lay down on her bed with her psychology book to revise for her first class. She started reading and had not realized she was extremely tired from the travelling until she dozed off to sleep.  
________________________________________

Emma had only been asleep for what seemed like a few minutes, when loud noises awoke her. She fought against them until the noises turned into voices. She then pulled herself from sleep, wondering who the heck would cause so much noise. Apparently more students had arrived to the dorm because it seemed like the whole building was on fire. However, her roommate was still nowhere to be seen. Emma sat on her bed, ready to get up to see what was going on, when she heard a key turn in the lock. Her heart skipped a beat, anticipating who was about to walk through the door. She quickly glanced at her reflection in the mirror across the room to make sure that she was presentable; she did not want to make a wrong impression on the first day. She scared herself, her hair was a mess, her clothes were wrinkled and she had drool on the side of her mouth. She wiped away her mouth but was not quick enough to clean herself further as the door finally opened revealing her new roommate.

Emma's head started spinning, this had to be a nightmare; she had to still be dreaming because this could not be true. If it was not a bad dream, then it had to be a very bad joke because this was the worst person that could ever be assigned to her room and also the only person that could cause such an outburst by her mere entrance in the dorm. Why didn't she think about it in the first place when she saw that she was assigned room 108? Of course it had to be _hers_ ; everyone knew it was _hers_. With the amount of people she brought back to her room every night, it was only natural that everyone on campus ended up knowing the exact location of her room. And she undoubtedly would have asked for it again this year. Emma was about to faint when the sound of heels clapping on the hard surface of the floor snapped her out of her interior panic. Regina Mills had just walked in the room. Regina Mills: the most popular girl on campus, captain of the cheerleading team and also the biggest partyer to have ever attended this school.

"Excuse me but I believe that you somehow found a way to get lost and ended up in my room" said the brunette while moving her suitcases in the room.

"You're sitting on my bed, please move your filthy person out of my room and close the door on your way out."

Emma still could not believe it, "Hey! This is my bed, I got here first and I didn't get lost, see?" Emma answered, showing Regina her key to the dorm.

"I beg your pardon? This is most likely my bed; I need the view on the football field so I can monitor the team" said Regina, looking at the weird girl sitting on her bed with disdain.

Emma had heard too many stories about the brunette's lifestyle. She hated Regina not only for her snarky character, but also for her lack of interest in the school. She had average grades and had gotten into school mostly on her father's money. She was one of those people for which life was easy, no matter what they did; their future was assured because of their family name. They attended posh schools like this one and could allow themselves to party and do whatever they wanted during their studies. That last characteristic Regina took more than advantage of; she had dated most of the boys on the football team and had her own clique of cheerleaders.

"Oh yeah, can't let the boy toys have too much fun without their queen" Emma mumbled beneath her breath.

"Now would you please be so kind as to move your stuff or will I have to do it myself? And just a small reminder, the closet is mine; my clothes are too expensive to be mixed with dirty thrift shop clothes. I mean they are designers after all" concluded the regal woman before turning her back to Emma and moving to the next room to greet what Emma could only guess to be another of those pesky cheerleaders that Regina hung out with.

This was too much for Emma; she could not let her chance of having a proper future be ruined by a daddy's girl who lived in a Barbie world. She had to get out of there and clear her mind if she did not want to end up completely crazy. She looked at the clock: 4:00PM. Surely Mary Margaret had finally arrived and could calm her down. The blonde did not care if her friend was still unpacking or was busy; she needed someone she could complain to and that could give her some advice on what to do. Therefore, Emma stormed out of the room with her cellphone, racing down the hallway and texting her best friend for her room number, not even noticing Regina's evil glare directed at her.  
________________________________________

"How dares she?" Emma yelled in her best friend's room, "I can't believe that out of the hundreds of filthy rich ignorant idiots here, I have to be paired up with this one!"

"Emma, just calm down, it can't be that bad" Mary Margaret answered, while unpacking her thousandth pair of shoes.

"NOT THAT BAD? She's already complaining about a room side and where were you last year when she slept with the whole football team and had them lift her up and carry her around the field as if she was some kind of queen?"

"Well she was elected homecoming queen and you have to admit that she is kind of the queen around here" shrugged her best friend while putting away another shoe box in her side of the closet.

"Or that time when one of her squad bases made a wrong move which caused Regina to fall and twist her ankle? She was injured for less than a week but had the girl kicked off the team! People make mistakes especially in these kinds of sports, that's what practices are for: to fix the mistakes. Injuries do happen but at least it wasn't during an actual game! But oh no not with Madam the queen, how dare a normal human being make a mistake? I feel so sorry for the girl" Emma complained while letting herself fall on her friend's bed.

"You shouldn't be. I turned out just fine" said a voice by the door.

Emma and Mary Margaret both jumped at the sound of another person in the room. They turned to see a tall girl with red streaks in long light brown hair. She was wearing a red beret, a plaid vest over a leather jacket, dark jeans and black high heel boots.

"Hey I'm Ruby by the way, which one of you is my new roommate?"

"That would be me," answered Mary Margaret while walking up to the new girl. "Mary Margaret Blanchard. Lovely to meet you, I'm sure we'll get along just fine. I took the liberty to choose the right side of the room, I hope you don't mind. Oh and I left you half the closet space too" she continued while offering her hand.

The girl instead pulled her in for a hug.

"I'm sure we will. And left side suits me just fine, I'm not a picky person. My old roommate didn't even leave me a space in the closet so thanks; I really appreciate it."

"By the way, this is Emma Swan; she's my former roommate and my best friend. Sorry for her ranting she's not fond of her new roommate" said the short-haired girl as she pointed to the occupied space on her bed.

"Hey," Emma answered. "Sorry 'bout earlier I had no idea that you were gonna walk in, how long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough for me to hear your complaints but it's alright," Ruby sighed. "I know my story travelled through the whole school. My reputation was a harsh price to pay for one wrong small flick of the wrist."

"Believe me I couldn't agree more," agreed the blonde. "But hey, Mary Margaret and I don't really care about reputation or society status. I'm here on a bursary and she spends most of her time hanging out in the classes working."

Ruby's entire body seemed to relax at this last answer. She let out a sigh of relief before opening her mouth again "Wow I was so scared of who I would end up with but you two actually seem nice, that'll be a change. Let me guess, Emma you're Regina's new roommate"

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Emma asked surprisingly.

"Heard you complaining about the room side earlier, had the same problem last year. Plus I heard Regina complaining about some blonde girl taking up her side of the room in the hallway so I put the pieces together" Ruby answered while moving to her bed.

"Oh great now I'm the center of the school's gossip" Emma sighed desperately while rolling on the bed.

"Why am I not surprised?"

Mary Margaret who had stood silently next to the blonde, letting her new roommate and her best friend talk, finally spoke up. "Wait a sec here, you said you had the same problem last year and you're a former cheerleader... Does that mean that you...?"

"That I am Regina's old roommate? Yeah but when she kicked me off the team, she also kicked me out of the room and I had to crash in whatever room I could for the remainder of the year" said the tall girl, uninterested.

Emma jolted herself up in a sitting position after learning exactly who her best friend's new roommate was. The both of them stared at the brunette with the red beret in a total different manner that came close to incredulity before looking back at each other, completely shocked.

Ruby, Emma and Mary Margaret had been hanging out for a couple of hours in the room when Emma finally remembered why she had really come to her best friend.

"Sorry to change the subject here people, but I still have the same problem as before... I still have the same roommate and as much as I'd like to stay here with you, I need my own room" said the blonde as she was sitting back up on the bed.

"Right" said Mary Margaret, "Why don't you go talk to the people in charge of the dorm, there might still be a way that you could switch rooms."

"Yeah, that's a good idea because, trust me, you don't wanna be stuck with the Queen of sass all year. The things she does, you don't wanna see" Ruby added while getting up to unpack.  
________________________________________

Emma walked down the long hallway that lead the coordinator's office. She genuinely did not like to cause disturbance of any kind, preferring to keep a low profile due to her already too big of a reputation and this is why she avoided this place as much as she could. She did not want to be a burden to anyone and asking to change rooms was total torture for her but she had to do it. She could not stay stuck with Regina. Emma was not a gambler when it came to her studies and she was not ready to risk her future over the little princess that was her soon-to-be ex roommate. The beat of her heart seemed to increase with the footsteps that brought her closer to the office to the point where she thought it would burst out of her chest.

Her footsteps came to a stop in front of an imposing wooden door that read COORDINATOR'S OFFICE. Here she was, she could not back away now… _Think about your future Em, you don't wanna end up being stuck here forever_ , she kept telling herself but it did little to calm her already shaky hands as she raised one to knock gently on the door. No sound came from the inside. She checked her phone: 8:00 PM, they should be opened until 9:00 PM. As Emma was putting her phone away it vibrated to signal an incoming message. _You can do it Emma! Love you –MM-_ Her best friend clearly knew when to give the blonde some much needed support. It made Emma smile and gave her enough courage to raise her hand again and knock a little bit louder this time to signal her presence. She heard an imposing voice yell "Come in" and she sighed letting some of her stress go as she opened the door.

The door opened on an old furnished room that incorporated both a small waiting room with comfy chairs and an office, both separated by a small door. The room was brightly lit which made Emma feel quite exposed, a feeling she did not appreciate. Not that she had anything to hide but she was more of the private type and not many people could get close to knowing the story of her small pitiful existence.

A man in a dark suit and purple tie was sitting at the desk and greeted her with what looked like a superior smile.

"Oh Miss Swan, what brings you here this late in the evening" demanded the man as he struggled to get up, relying much on his cane.

"How do you know my name?" responded Emma, surprised that one would acknowledge her existence, let alone know her name. She was somewhat intimidated by this classy looking man, but what did she expect, she was in a posh school after all.

"One would remember the name of one of the best students in school, Miss Swan. But pardon me, where are my manners. Let me introduce myself, the name is Mr. Gold, I am the dorm coordinator and your man to solve any problem that you might encounter here." said the man, offering his hand as an introduction.

Emma shook it firmly before responding "Wow thanks… Eh it's nice to meet you and I came here, eh, because I did encounter a problem."

"And what might this problem be?" questioned Mr. Gold while staring directly at Emma.

The blonde took a deep breath to try to calm herself down a bit. Her heart was still pounding and it resonated in her head and she had trouble staying focused on the question. _Come on Em, you can do this_ , she remembered Mary Margaret's message, _and what's the worst that could happen? Off with it at once_. 

"Well you see Sir, I met my roommate and-"

"Regina Mills in room 108 is it?" interjected Mr. Gold "Quite an impressive team you two make."

This man was definitely giving Emma the chills, first he remembered her name and now he even knew her room number and her roommate. Was this guy a psychic or what? _No_ , Emma thought, _but the guy fits perfectly with the stalker profile_.

"Yes, you see, I don't believe that 'this team' as you say is gonna work, so I was wondering if there was any possibility to change rooms. I don't mean to be a burden and will gladly accept any other room available."

Mr. Gold took a moment to check his papers before raising his head up again and starting on a deceptive tone "I apologize Miss Swan but it appears that all the rooms are already taken. This is why there is a deadline on those room request papers that you apparently forgot to fill in."

Emma's mouth twitched upwards at the arrogant tone the man in front of her was using. She really had trouble with this type of people that liked to poke at already hurting wounds. She usually tried to stay away from people like him and Emma only wanted to leave this place as soon as she could. This man clearly had no intention of helping her and she would have to find another way to escape her tragic fate.

"Well that's too bad. Anyways thanks for your help and if there is anyone requesting a roommate, could you please contact me? I would gladly agree to change at any time." answered Emma, hoping that it would conclude the conversation.

"Very well, Miss Swan; if anything comes up I will personally look into it and have a great evening." answered the man in suit with a fake smile as he once again got up to squeeze Emma's hand.

"You too, bye." said Emma quickly as she got up to leave. She was irritated, if there is one thing she could do was tell when people were lying and this man definitely was. He had no intention of helping her and clearly followed the majority by being on Regina's side. Of course she would have charmed all the school including the staff; she was Regina Mills after all. How could Emma have been so dumb to believe that she could stand a chance at escaping her? No one ever escaped her and Emma was no different, she held no power against her. She quickly ran back to her best friend's room, hoping to find a little bit of comfort there and hopefully a solution to this issue.  
________________________________________

Emma entered the room and threw herself on Mary Margaret's bed once again as Ruby and her were discussing their respective schedules for the next week.

"And I'm guessing it didn't go as well as you had thought it would." said the red head as she looked up just in time to see the blonde fall onto the bed.

"Don't worry it's just a nightmare and I'm gonna wake up in a second and have a proper roommate." Emma mumbled through the pillow.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you Emma but I'm afraid you'll have to face reality. Plus it can't be that bad, Regina is still a human after all, I'm sure she has some good sides you just haven't seen yet." said Mary Margaret as she tried to comfort her friend.

Ruby opened her mouth to oppose this statement but shut it closed again when she saw the glare her roommate threw her.

"Right," she said submissively, "just try not to drop her and you should be fine."

Emma was in no mood for joking. Did Ruby think that she had not seen her eyes roll and the sarcasm in her voice? And Mary Margaret was being her forever optimistic self as always. It usually did work on Emma but not tonight. It had been a big day for everyone and she was dead tired and had no intention of being fooled into thinking Regina wasn't as evil as her reputation pretended she was. One thing that Emma did have hope for though was that morning would bring her a new light on the subject and she would see more clearly. For now, her judgement was still tainted by the anger her visit to the coordinator's office had triggered and this same anger had led her to believe that she could stand up to her roommate just for tonight.

Emma had already decided that sleeping in her own bed was a much better idea than camping on the floor of her former roommate's floor and all her things were in her room anyways. Therefore, Emma stood back up, said her goodbyes to her friends and headed back to room 108.  
________________________________________

As she was walking down the hallway that led to her room, Emma was mentally reviewing her strategy. She would got in her room, grab her pyjamas, lock herself in the bathroom without even throwing one look at the brunette, come out, climb into bed and sleep. Tomorrow would be another was all pumped up and ready to execute her plan as she turned the doorknob. She wasn't prepared for what she saw when she opened her door. The brunette was already asleep which would have made Emma quite happy had Regina not been asleep on the right side of the room. All Emma's belongings had liberally been thrown on the left side of the room and her clothes were all in a bunch on her bed. Apparently, like Ruby, Emma had not gain the right to have access to a small place in the only closet in the room. Gosh was this woman impossible and Emma would not let her win that easily. But it was late and Emma had another big day ahead of her tomorrow trying to find a solution to this situation. Therefore, Emma threw all her clothes on the floor and disdainfully settled for the left side of the room only for the night. As soon as Emma's head touched the pillow, sleep overtook her. She was exhausted and drifted into a deep sleep.


	2. 6:00 AM

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon A Time or any recognizable characters.
> 
> A/N: Hey people! I'm finally posting the second chapter, after a lot of editing and re-writing :P I know there isn't that much stuff that happens in this one but bare with me, I'm still setting some stuff up and things are about to get really interesting starting next chapter! As always, reviews are truly appreciated and are always given a thought.
> 
> Thanks for reading!
> 
> StolenDance -xox-

"No Ruby, no! You can't eat your boyfriend!" Emma screamed, standing up promptly as a loud noise pulled her out of her dream. It was just passed six in the morning and she had only been asleep for a few hours. It wasn't even a school day. What could possibly be so important that she had to be woken up this early in the morning?

"Oh I'm sorry dear, did we wake you up?" said Regina with a grin as she turned around from where she was standing next to a bunch of people from the cheerleading squad and the football team.

"What the hell?" said Emma, still confused as to why there was so much noise so early in the morning. But more urgently, what the hell were Regina's friends doing in their room? It was only six for god's sake!

Emma had heard things about Regina's friends and they weren't all good things. Actually they weren't positive things at all. Basically most of them had the same reputation as Regina and it is was way too early for Emma to deal with this crap.

"Rise and shine people!" yelled a blonde girl as she barged into the room. She was wearing a grey tank top underneath a baby blue vest paired with some white capris.

Kathryn: Regina's best friend, always by her side and the co-captain of the cheer squad. Most probably one of the most overly joyful and possessive girls to have ever walked on this earth and always clinging to her not so charming boyfriend, David. Of course, being from a posh family, it didn't really change anything that she wasn't the brightest on the team. However, Emma had to admit that it took some kind of very good faith in humanity to always be that optimistic and bubbly, though it did get on her nerves most of the time.

"Well good morning to you too Kathryn," said Regina, pulling the overexcited blonde in for a quick hug. "We were actually waiting for you and the 'mate' to show up. Now where the heck is Killian? I swear if he was out flirting and getting drunk on rum again last night he better be ready to lose a hand."

"Right here love, my bad I must've gotten lost on the way to your dorm," smirked a tall, good-looking guy with a strong Irish accent as he confidently entered the room. His comment had everyone laughing which seemed to greatly annoy the queen of sass.

Great, just what Emma needed on this fine morning. If she hadn't known Regina, Killian would probably have been number one on her hate list, not that she had one or anything. He was one confident and macho despicable person. He knew he looked good and his life revolved around football, getting drunk as much as he could and bringing back girls to his dorm. Laid back life he was living.

Regina sighed, rolling her eyes "Of course you did."

"Were the girls at least worth it?" said a guy with brown curly hair in a British accent. No doubt this one could steal anyone's girl with his good looks alone.

"Oh you have no idea mate," answered Killian, with a sneaky smile on his lips.

"Graham please don't encourage him, he's already pathetic enough," replied Regina seemingly annoyed as she crossed her arms and sent a "do not dare answer back" glance in Killian's direction.

Graham was on the football team but from what Emma heard he was not as bad as the others. Apparently he cared about his grades but Emma had a feeling that this was probably just rumors because Emma dared not forget that he was friend with Regina after all and who in their right mind could hang out with a bunch of idiots like them and still be a decent human being?

Emma finally snapped out of her reflection phase and got ready to speak her mind and show her disagreement. "What the hell Regina! Can you please take it elsewhere? Some people want to sleep," she said roughly while getting out of bed. The entirety of Regina's little clique started laughing loudly while starring at her and it took a while for Emma to realize the reason why. She finally clicked that she had fallen asleep wearing only her white tank top from the night before and her underwear. She had been too tired when she came back from her friends' room and had simply gone to bed abruptly. She quickly grabbed her tight jeans that were lying at the end of her bed and pulled them on her strong pale legs. Mentally she was going berserk but tried her best not to show that she was somewhat embarrassed that the whole team had seen her boy shorts.

"Who's this lovely lad'?" asked Killian flirtatiously. " 'Cause she's more than fine."

"Cut it Jones," interrupted Graham. "I think you've said enough for one day."

"Sorry mate but I am enjoying the view," answered Killian before moving from the door and joining another blond guy.

And of course, last but not least in the room was David. Wherever Kathryn went, her footballer boyfriend had to be there. David had been Kathryn's boyfriend since they were kids but he was actually a lot smarter than her and had the looks going for him. Well anyways that is what, Emma's ex-roommate, Mary Margaret, had told her one day during Emma's long raging phases against the cheer team. Mary Margaret had literature with David last year and she said that he was surprisingly quite a charmer. At least he was quieter than the others, which was a good quality Emma appreciated when situations like the one she had just gotten into happened.

"My apologies dear but it seems like you will have to step out for the time being," said Regina with a mischievous grin on her face. "It appears that my friends and I have some things to discuss before the year starts."

"Excuse me?" said Emma as she stared at Regina in disbelief, "Last time I checked, this was my room as well. It's damn early and it's fine if you want to have a little reunion at impossible hours but take it elsewhere. " First that girl took the liberty to change her bed and move her stuff and now that same girl was kicking her out of the dorm at six in the morning on a summer day. Emma could not take it anymore. It was her room too and she would not tolerate it now so that Regina could take advantage of it for the rest of the year.

"Well Ms. Swan, you see, I can make your life miserable with a snap of my fingers. Now, I wouldn't want to seem like I am telling you what to do with your life, but if I were you, I'd leave because you have no idea what I am capable of," Regina said, with an evil glare. Of course the brunette was insulted that Emma had dared question her authority in front of her friends, but she was also overly confident that her little threats would work on her.

Emma looked at Regina in disbelief. Who even threatened to ruin someone's life just because said person did not want to get out of her own room at six in the morning? Thinking about it though, it was probably not a very brilliant idea to get on Regina's bad side before school had even started and an even dumber idea to do it by disobeying her orders in front of her friends. So Emma decided to let it go for now and think of a way to get back at her later on.

"You know what?" Emma said while rummaging in her belongings that were spread all over the floor, thanks to a certain person who had thrown them there, "I'll just go take some air outside." She stormed out of the room gripping her coat in her hand so hard her knuckles had turned white. Gosh she needed a break from all the drama her new roommate kept throwing her way. Apparently she brought drama everywhere she went, and Emma had to find a way to avoid it because she had neither the patience nor the time to deal with it.  
________________________________________

Emma walked through campus at a steady pace towards a wooden bench on the other side of the grass patch in front of her dorm.

When she reached her destination, she sat down and put her head in her hands taking deep breaths, trying to clear her head from all the frustration she had felt earlier.

If there was one thing the blonde needed more than anything once in a while, it was the peace and quiet that the idea of spending some time alone offered. Sure she liked hanging out with her friends but she also needed some time to think and reflect on her life and goals. She had never truly been a very social person. She was what other people called a lone wolf. Emma liked to refer to it as a strong sense and need of independency.

It was in moments like this one that Emma realized how much she did not fit in this school. She was not some pretentious, posh twat sitting on a pile of her parents' money. In fact, it only served to remember the fact that she did not have parents at all. That was one of the main reasons why she really wanted to enter this school: to show everyone that even average people, even the loneliest, could achieve great things if they only had the willpower to do the needed sacrifices. Nobody had to rely on their parents' money, there were other ways and Emma used to be determined to find them. Now, however, she was not too sure that it was working out just the way she had planned. She doubted herself today more than ever, thanks to those idiotic rich kids upstairs.

Looking up she took in her surroundings. It felt like even the buildings wanted to make her feel like she did not belong here. They were old Victorian-style buildings intertwined with vines, circled by green grass perfectly trimmed. There was not a sound, not a flaw.

It was perfect; perfect and posh.

Emma was sure that at any moment, she would see a golden phoenix flying through the sky, majestically showing off his fire feathers just to emphasize the perfection of this school.

The blonde took deep breathes, feeling the cool morning air rush to her lungs. It was exactly what she needed: a gush of something new, something new and fresh. She shook her head. She could not let those thoughts ruin everything for her. She had gotten this far and she would keep going forward. Regina Mills would not be the one stopping her. She would not be the reason Emma would face failure. She had worked so hard to get the best grades and get this bursary; it was her chance, her best chance to succeed in life. She would prove them all; starting with her so called parents. She would prove to them that abandoning her was the biggest mistake of their life. They would regret letting her go and dumping her on the side of the highway.

She never had gotten the chance to know who her real parents were neither the reason why they had given her away. All she knew was that she had been in the system, going from foster family to foster family all her life until she had reached sixteen and had finally gotten out. Every family she was ever placed in ended up having a kid of their own and then said that they could not take care of her anymore. This would result in Emma having her world destroyed once again. It was the same feeling as the one when she was placed in group homes and had to watch another child getting adopted and finding happiness; it was not jealousy, it was something else, something deeper.

It was hard at first; she was just a kid and did not understand why she was the one who was left behind. She had never really felt like she had belonged anywhere. At some point in her life, Emma had stopped caring and had built herself a shell; some sort of wall thickened with all her emotions, the emotions she was keeping buried inside of her by fear of feeling them and it was growing stronger and thicker day by day. It was even starting to take up too much space; she was starting to feel empty, like a piece of her was missing. Was it love? Was it family? Or maybe it was a sense of accomplishment… Emma did not know what was missing, but something was and she was determined to find it.

And that was why she was not going to let Regina ruin her year. She could easily just ignore her whole presence and go on with her life for the time being. Or could she? For some reason Regina had a way to bring Emma's strongest emotions to light and she despised her for that. She was determined to continue on with her life though and this meant finishing her studies and making sure Regina knew that the blonde would not tolerate getting kicked out of her own room at any hour and for any reason.

Emma got up and started walking back to her dorm with the idea of telling Regina that she could ruin her social life all she wanted but that she could not just kick her out of her room every time she wanted to have some alone time with her friends.  
________________________________________

When she reached her room, Emma stared at the 108 neatly painted in white on her door. She contemplated it for a while before taking a deep breath and slowly turning the doorknob, ready to put the brunette back in her place, in front of whoever would be there. Friends or no friends, it just had to end.

She pushed the door open gently and walked into the room closing the door behind her. She spun around with a serious face to emphasize her point. However, she was alone, looking at a perfectly empty room. There was no sign of Regina or her clique. Emma stepped closer to her bed, gazing out the window. There they were, on the field, already practicing their routine with the guys just staring at them. Emma could not, however, blame them. Who wouldn't stare at Regina? She was gorgeous but more than that, she had a regal aura surrounding her. Emma sighed and plonked herself on her bed. She had lost all sense of courage that had given her the strength to come back here. What was she thinking? Nobody ever disobeyed Regina Mills without it coming with a price, a price Emma was not ready to pay just yet.

Emma got up and made her way inside the shared bathroom in her room. One positive thing about this school was that there was no communal bathroom. Each room had their own private bathroom that resembled those in hotels. Of course Regina had already taken the liberty to spread out her dozens of beauty products all over the sink and there was barely any place left for Emma's stuff… Much like the rest of the room, in fact.

Emma stepped in the shower, very well motivated to at least take a long and hot shower. She got the hot water running and started to relax. However, it did not take long for her to realize her mistake. Her whole body was relaxing; she could feel her stiff muscles slowly releasing the pressure but then, Emma was remembered how little sleep she had gotten the previous night as she felt her eyes fighting to stay opened. Emma had never been an early bird. Even when she was rooming with Mary Margaret, her roommate had to get creative to find ways to wake up the blonde in time for their morning classes: the alarm on her phone being quite useless in getting her up. Even with a good dose of caffeine, Emma still found a way to fall asleep during lectures. Yes, she was a straight A student but it was not due to her very good aptitude to listen in class. In fact, Emma hated lectures, she most preferred learning on her own through books and practical stuff. She could not stay focused and most of the time her head drifted to another world in which she was a debuting princess in a beautiful red gown attending balls, having her father show her how to waltz and opening the ball with this same father/daughter dance but then a special somebody would interrupt and steal her only to swirl her around the dance floor.

Emma was not one to hide from reality, she was an orphan and a poor one on top of that with very slight chances of making it in this world, but a girl could dream, couldn't she? However, the dreams were far better than reality and coming back from it hurt her soul. This was the reason why Emma tried to avoid dozing off to this enchanted world because facing reality was hard enough without having those fantasies on top of it.

Emma quickly turned the water handle to cold, hoping it would wake her up and allow her some rest from the feeling of being haunted by her dreams.  
________________________________________

After a while, Emma turned off the water handle and stepped out of the shower. She took the towel that was hanging next to the shower and quickly dried her fair-skinned body. She stepped out of the bathroom, firmly holding the towel around her body in case Regina and her friends decided to conclude their training early and come back to her room once again. When she saw that she was still granted some time alone, she let out a deep grateful sigh and took a pair of jeans and a t-shirt from her small pile of clothes that was still on the floor. She really had to put them somewhere else before school started. She quickly put on her clothes and did not take the time to dry her hair, deciding to let them dry with the wind.

Emma left her room, heading outside once again with the firm intention of making the best of her last days off before school started.


	3. Morning Caffeine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon A Time or any recognizable characters.
> 
> A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry it took a bit longer for this chapter to go up, I was waiting for a friend to read it before actually posting it. However, to make up for it, I will try to post the next chapter around Thursday. I hope you enjoy reading this one and don't forget, feedback is always helpful. Even if it's just to tell me you like the story and want more, it always makes my day to know that the story is appreciated.
> 
> See you in the next chapter and feel free to fav and follow,
> 
> StolenDance -xox-

Beep…Beep…Beep… Emma's alarm had been ringing for a good five minutes before Regina came barging into their bedroom. She was seemingly busy doing her hair because half her hair was straight and the other side was all curly. Who would've known the ice queen wasn't all that straight and perfect when natural?

"Would you shut the damn thing off please?" Regina said in a high tone, trying to talk over the loud beeping of the alarm.

For once Emma was actually glad that her new roommate was yelling at her because it woke her up even though she did not really want to. She looked at the clock… 7:00 AM. Sure it was a bit early but Emma did not want to risk sleeping in a little more and wake up too late. After all, it was the first day of classes and nothing looked as bad as being late on the first day.

"Sorry" answered the blonde, reaching across her night table to grab her phone that was charging in the corner and turning off the annoying beeping. To be honest, Emma wasn't really sorry; on the contrary, she was even quite amused to see the brunette annoyed by such a small thing and looking a bit more natural without her complete beauty treatment. Sure she already had most of her make-up on but her curly hair made Emma wonder how Regina looked like without any make-up at all. She figured she would find out soon enough since she would be stuck with her for the year and would try to snap a picture to show to Mary Margaret. _The Ice Queen at Her Natural… What a scandal this would make if it ever got out_ , thought Emma even though she knew deep down that Regina was still as gorgeous as she always was.

"Finally! How the heck can you not wake up with something like this beeping?" said Regina as she turned towards the bathroom to get back to her straightening and locking herself in, not even waiting for an answer to her question.

Emma lied in bed for a couple of minutes, answering the good morning text Mary Margaret had texted her and letting her friend know she would meet her after her class to grab something to eat before their afternoon class. The blonde looked up her schedule on her phone and noticed that she was starting with her Ideology class with an impossible teacher. This made Emma not really want to get out of bed but, on the other hand, it was perfect because her class wasn't at the other end of the campus which meant Emma would most likely have time to grab her daily dose of caffeine before heading to her class. She was grateful for it because she knew caffeine would probably be much needed for a morning lecture class.

Emma finally got out of bed and walked towards her wardrobe, having yet to acquire a place in the actual room closet. She decided to grab a white long sleeve shirt and some jeans, not forgetting to grab her red leather jacket since the mornings were starting to get fresher. She got dressed quickly and left the room, not even bothering to ask Regina if she could take a shower, knowing too well that the brunette would not let her in before she was done putting on her dozens of products and verifying that her make-up was more than perfect which would undoubtedly make Emma run late for her class. She instead decided to opt for a nighttime shower when the brunette would most likely be out partying with her idiotic clique. Therefore, she went down the stairs of the dorm and headed south of the building, towards the campus' diner.

________________________________________

The blonde entered the always crowded diner and sat down to a table near the window. She started reading the daily newspaper, taking her time since she had some to kill, before ordering the daily special for breakfast. She was surprised when the waitress came to take her order, lifting her eyes from the newspaper and realizing the waitress was none other than Ruby.

"Hey Rubes… Since when are you the diner's waitress?" Emma asked with a look of confusion on her face.

"Hi Emma," said Ruby while offering the blonde a bright smile and bending over the table to pull Emma into a hug. "To answer your question, ever since I got kicked off the cheer team, I've been having a lot of free time and the diner was looking for employees so I figured I could take the job. Plus I get to meet some really cute guys" answered Ruby with a mischievous smile on her face. "Now what can I get you today?"

"The daily special and a coffee please, make it as dark as possible" said Emma, with a roll of her eyes, knowing too well Ruby loved boys but would never commit to any kind of long lasting relationship even though she could get the prettiest boys on campus. In her last free days of summer, Emma had spent a lot of time in Mary Margaret's room, trying to avoid Regina and her minions as much as possible. Therefore, she had gotten some time to get to know Ruby and as it turned out, they became friends very easily. Both had similar personalities and their little conversation on their first nigh back had led to an undeniable connection and had evolved very quickly into a growing friendship. Ruby was gorgeous, fearless and very confident but was also energetic, fun and reliable and Emma had grown very fond of the girl.

After a while, Ruby came back with Emma's breakfast and a hot cocoa topped with whipped cream and powdered with cinnamon. She gently dropped it in front of Emma with an over exaggerated smile on her face. The blonde looked up and though she loved hot cocoa with cinnamon, she really needed her caffeine dose and decided against drinking the little delight.

"Sorry Rubes but I ordered coffee for a reason; I really need the boost before I go to my morning class or else I'll fall asleep."

"I know, I didn't mistake your order, someone bought it for you. It seems like you have a secret admirer" said Ruby winking as she looked across the diner towards the seats and pointed to a table at the back before running off to greet and serve her other customers.

From where she was sitting, Emma could hardly see who was occupying that table. It was clearly a guy since she could see the top of his head but could not pinpoint who it was exactly. She was flattered that somebody would buy her a drink and even notice that she usually tops it off with cinnamon but she was also on her guards since she did not have many friends and none that would be gentleman enough to buy her a drink. Emma Swan was not the popular one and everybody knew it. Who would want to approach her especially with the Regina incident? Unless, this person wanted to be publicly executed by one of the most influential people in school, fraternizing with Emma Swan was committing a social suicide for sure and Emma was well aware of that, hence her suspicious attitude.

She decided that thanking her secret admirer was nonetheless the polite thing to do and would also appease her suspicions. Therefore, she stood up to walk towards the seats section. As she got up though, she bumped against the table which caused the cocoa to spill all over her shirt. Great, Emma thought as she silently cursed at the damn cocoa; she clearly did not have time to go back to her dorm or else she would risk being late for her morning class and give Regina one more reason to laugh at her which normally, Emma wouldn't care but she did want to keep a low profile for now. Ruby, who was at the ordering counter, saw the incident and quickly came running, handing her a damped clothe.

"Great," Emma said as she sighed, "I don't have time to go back to change and this will leave a stain for sure."

"Don't worry," said the new waitress with a smile, "I've got a couple of spare outfits in the backroom if you want."

"Thanks Rubes, you're a life-saver" gratefully replied the blonde as Ruby motioned her move towards the backroom with her.

________________________________________

Once they got there, Ruby opened her locker where she left her personal belongings and handed Emma a red long sleeve shirt that was a bit too fit and low-cut for her tastes. Unfortunately, it would have to do for the day or at least until lunch break when Emma could run to her room to grab something that would suit her better. She quickly changed from white to red, shoved the dirty shirt in her bag and left the backroom.

She walked towards the table Ruby had pointed to her earlier, still wondering who in the world would offer her something even as simple as a hot cocoa. As she got closer, she could now see that the guy sitting there had brown curls and was also reading the daily newspaper. She finally got to the seat and was surprised but also disappointed to see who was occupying the booth.

 _You've got to be kidding me; I don't have time for stupid games_ , Emma thought, feeling very annoyed by Graham's presence at the diner.

Seeing as Graham wasn't noticing her presence, Emma coughed loudly.

"Good morning Emma" said Graham, looking up with a bright smile.

"What's with the hot cocoa?" said Emma, crossing her arms as she stood in front of Graham.

"Just trying to get your attention and I thought you might like some hot cocoa with your breakfast, I think you'll need the boost with the class you're heading into," he answered kindly.

"How the heck do you even know which class I'm heading to? Are you stalking me and have a copy of my schedule on your phone just so you can bully me to make Regina happy?" snapped Emma.

"No, no worries, I just heard Regina complaining of having this class with you yesterday," answered Graham trying not to laugh at the evident hostility towards the cheer captain.

Emma tried to calm her nerves; she had a sense that the guy was only trying to be nice which surprised her. Maybe she had judged him a bit too fast but she was still on her guards.

"Well thank you for the hot cocoa but there's no caffeine in it and I really need some right now so you can like drink it or something," Emma replied sharply just as Ruby dropped another cup like the one Emma had spilled on the table between them.

"There's no caffeine but there's a lot of sugar, same thing really. I offered it to you so be polite and drink it, it's not poisonous," Graham said, smiling widely.

"I'm sure it's fine I just don't have a tendency to accept drinks from anyone," Emma muttered while pushing the drink towards Graham.

"I'm not anyone," he said smartly.

"You're not someone either," Emma responded. Something about him was telling Emma she had misjudged him, he really seemed to only want her attention but Emma wasn't about to let him buy her a drink so easily. He was friends with Regina after all and to be friends with her meant he clearly had a bad sense of judgement.

"Just take the drink" Graham sighed, pushing it back towards her.

"I don't want a drink especially from you," Emma hissed, reminding herself of the incident in her room when he had seen her in her underwear thanks to her roommate's crazy early meetings.

"You're acting like a bitch right now," he said, starting to be annoyed at her uncompliant attitude.

"You're hanging out with one," said Emma on a tone that ended the argument.

"Fair enough," he said compliantly, "now would you please sit down and accept the drink."

"Fine," Emma said. This guy clearly wasn't going to give up until she accepted the hot cocoa; she sat down in front of Graham, slowly sipping her drink and looking at him, proud of her comeback.

"So, how does it feel to be one of Regina's minions?" Emma asked after a couple of seconds of silence, deciding that she wanted to know how a seemingly cool guy could be friends with such an arrogant person.

"She's not too bad once you get to know her." Graham laughed, looking at Emma triumphantly.

"See that's one thing I really don't want to do. She doesn't exactly make people feel comfortable around her," smirked Emma.

"Anyway, enough with the Regina talk; mornings are my time off of the gang. In what are you majoring?" he asked.

"I don't know, you tell me since you seem to know my schedule," said Emma, teasingly.

"I know you've got a class this morning, but I don't know what you're studying," he answered truthfully.

"Sociology and political science," she finally admitted.

"Oh really? That's cool, I'm majoring in criminology," Graham offered simply.

Emma's phone vibrated and Emma checked it. It was only and e-mail but Emma saw the time: she had five minutes to get to class before being late.

"I'm sorry," she said as she was getting up, "but I really have to go or else I'll be late for my boring morning class."

"It was really nice talking to you," Graham said, getting up as well, "I'll see you around yeah?"

"Yeah, sure" Emma shrugged. "Thanks again for the drink" she shouted backwards as she ran out of the diner.

________________________________________

Later, as Emma was going up the stairs that led to her dorm, she thought back to her early morning. Maybe she had misjudged some of Regina's friends. Graham didn't seem that bad and she actually had a lovely time with him even though he had gotten on her nerves in the beginning.

Emma got to her room 108 and pushed the door opened. To her biggest relief, Regina was nowhere to be found. Therefore, Emma decided to take the shower she couldn't have in the same morning.

She quickly took her shower and slipped back into a pair of tight jeans and her white tank top. She got out of the bathroom and went to her bed. Anyone who thought first day of class meant they wouldn't have homework surely had a good surprise today. What did they expect? They weren't in high school anymore and so, the work started the very first day. Emma sighed, getting out her books and sat comfortably on her bed knowing very well she would be in this position for quite a while.

________________________________________

Emma woke up to the sound of the door of her dorm slamming. The room was dark; it was clearly night time as the clock on Regina's side of the room indicated 1:00 AM.

 _I probably fell asleep while studying_ , Emma thought, _it wouldn't be the first time_.

Emma heard shuffling, as if someone was moving but did not watch where they were going. _Probably Regina coming back drunk or something_ , thought Emma as she readjusted herself on her bed, ready to fall back to sleep.

"I thought we were alone" said a guy's voice that Emma couldn't recognize. She jumped. Sure Regina liked to party but could she really go as far as bringing a guy back to their room when she knew Emma would most likely be there?

"Who cares?" Regina whispered in a drunken voice, "It's probably just my roommate and nobody cares about her, she's obviously sleeping."

"But what if she wakes up?" asked the unknown voice, clearly uncomfortable.

"I just told you, no one cares about her," said Regina as both silhouettes moved to her bed while hitting a couple of things on their way there.

Emma could not believe it. Even bringing back a guy seemed too low for Regina; didn't she have some sort of self-respect? No, of course she didn't since she was dead drunk; she probably didn't even know who the guy was.

"Seriously Regina?" said Emma as she got up. "Are you really gonna do it here?"

"Go away," said Regina as she started to undress the unknown guy that was standing next to her, "can't you see that I'm busy?"

 _Great here's to getting kicked out again_ , Emma thought as she headed to the door. She did not want to witness whatever gross things Regina had planned for the night. Surely Mary Margaret and Ruby would understand given the circumstances that she comes knocking so late in the night; or at least she sure hoped so because she clearly could not stay here and had no other place to go.

Emma opened the door that led into the corridor, looking back as the light fled through the opening, just in time to see the two drunks fall on Regina's bed, already half naked. She definitely needed to have that talk with Regina after all.


	4. Second Chance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon A Time or any recognizable characters.
> 
> A/N: Hey everyone... I know I said I'd post this one like three weeks ago but something came up. I'll try to keep it short but to explain, what happened is that I had a really bad reaction to some painkillers my doctor prescribed me... I couldn't even stare at my computer screen without everything turning and was always sleeping. Anyways, I'm really sorry I couldn't update, you have no idea how bad I feel because of it but the good news is that I'm back now, got new pills that are working a lot better and I can now resume my writing. This chapter is a bit longer than the last ones and I can tell you that things are finally starting to get interesting. Also, there is more info on the other characters like David, Kathryn, MM and Graham coming up in the next few chapters. Again, I'm truly sorry and if something like this happens again, check my Tumblr blog which is where I will keep you updated on what is going on and maybe even start posting sneak peeks of Dangerous Attraction.
> 
> As always, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the update,
> 
> StolenDance -xox-

"Em come on, wake up!" said a far away, faded voice. _No Emma, don't wake up_ , said Emma's sub-conscious.

"Move MM, I'll wake her up" heard Emma in the far away, still unable to fully understand what was going on. Her brain was slow at catching up as she was fighting to stay asleep. She felt a cold hand hit her cheek and she jumped out of bed.

"What the hell was that?" said Emma as she rubbed her cheek which burned like crazy.

"I couldn't get you to wake up so Ruby kinda slapped you in the face to wake you up…" said Mary Margaret with a truly sorry expression on her face.

"Sorry, not sorry Em. You really wouldn't wake up so I figured I'd just give you a little slap but guess my hand might've slipped," shrugged Ruby as if it was a totally normal way to wake someone up.

"What a way to wake up someone, really thanks Rubes. But what the hell am I even doing in your room?" asked Emma, still not completely awake.

"You don't remember?" asked both Mary Margaret and Ruby, shocked that Emma would forget the events of the night before. They hadn't heard the whole story since it was late and they were all tired but what they heard was enough to give them goose bumps. They felt sorry for Emma but boy were they happy to be rooming together.

Everything from the night before came flashing back in the blonde's head. Everything from her falling asleep doing her homework to her being woken up by the door slamming and Regina making out with whoever the guy was in their room with Emma right next to them.

"Oh gosh so it wasn't a dream?" inquired Emma, falling back on the bed, still hoping that she had dreamt it. After all, it seemed so nightmarish that it wouldn't have surprised her if it truly had just been a very bad dream.

"I'm afraid not and you seemed pretty pissed off last night," answered Ruby, feeling sorry for her friend but definitely not surprised. She had roomed with Regina for a while and the things the cheerleader had done, one would rather want to forget. Furthermore, Ruby had to be honest with herself and admit that Emma was quite the easy target but Ruby would never tell this fact to Emma, Regina already accomplishing the task too well.

Emma thought back to what had happened on the previous night. Following Regina's drunken arrival, the blonde had left the room completely out of herself. Who in their right mind brought back boys in a shared room knowing that their roommate would be in the room? Emma had gone to Mary Margaret's and Ruby's room, hoping that they wouldn't mind the late night intrusion. Luckily for her, they hadn't gone to bed yet. They welcomed her with opened arms after Emma had quickly summarized the story. They tried to calm her down, even sharing part of their late night snack with her before heading to bed. Mary Margaret insisted that the blonde sleep in her bed, even though Emma was ready to settle for the floor; after all, she was the one who wasn't in her room.

She was sad to admit it but the previous night in the girls' room had allowed Emma more sleep than all the other nights in her own room put together. She was very well ready to take her revenge on the brunette but she was also hoping that this little game would not last because she had no idea how she was going to survive a whole school year with sleep deprivation, the exams already accomplishing the job.

"Em you can't let her ruin your life like this, it's not right" said Mary Margaret, snapping Emma out of her reflection.

"I didn't think it was possible but she's actually giving you a harder time than she gave me, you must've really pissed her off," said Ruby, quite amazed at her new friend.

"The worst part is that I really didn't do anything except try to have a decent college life with a very-hard-to-live-with roommate," sighed Emma, debating what her next step should be.

"Why don't you try talking with Mr. Gold again? Surely he can do something about it because the situation is really starting to get out of hands," offered Mary Margaret who hated to see her best friend in such a gloomy mood.

Emma thought it through and decided to give it another try with Mr. Gold. Maybe she had just caught him in a bad mood. After all, everybody has their days, right? She decided on dropping by his office during her lunchtime. There would most likely be nobody there since most normal people spent their lunchtime eating with friends but not anybody had a roommate like her either.

Mary Margaret interrupted her chain of thoughts again, "I don't mean to be bossy or anything Em but you should probably go if you don't want to be late… In fact, we all should start to get ready because classes start in about thirty minutes."

 _Crap_ thought Emma. She was about to be late for her class and she still had to go back to her room to grab her books. Hopefully, the room would be empty and she would get there on time. She swore to herself that Regina's little games would not be the cause of her lateness; they had caused enough trouble for the day already. Emma bid her goodbyes to her friends before quickly exiting their room and running to her own.

When Emma got to the 108, the room was thankfully empty. She quickly changed into fresh clothes, grabbed her bag and books, and left for her morning class that started in five minutes. She opted for the nighttime shower once again, hoping that she would be alone when she would come back too.  
________________________________________

During lunchtime, Emma remembered to stop by Mr. Gold's office as planned, hoping that he would be able to do something about her misfortune.

As soon as her class was over, she headed quickly to her dorm building and walked down the long hallway that led to the coordinator's office. Her heart was thumping in her chest, too similar to her first visit for her liking. Emma had a bad feeling about this; she was almost certain that she was coming here for nothing but she really needed to find an alternative to her situation, so she stopped in front of the imposing wooden door that read COORDINATOR'S OFFICE again.

She quietly entered Mr. Gold's office. He was busy talking with a young brunette, a bit older than Emma, wearing a blue lacy dress. She spoke with a heavy Australian accent and seemed pretty fond of the man. Therefore, Emma took a seat in the waiting room beside Mr. Gold's office, waiting for him to finish and hoping it wouldn't take too long so that she could have some time left to grab a bite before heading to her afternoon class.

About twenty minutes of business discussion and, if Emma wasn't mistaking, a bit of flirting from both parties later, both Mr. Gold and the mysterious brunette came out of his office. They both seemed very pleased with each other and before it went too far, Emma decided it was time to make her presence known. She was in no mood to witness her already creepy coordinator making a very poor attempt at charming a girl that looked half his age.

She got out of her chair, still hoping the conversation would not have the same result as the last one, when Mr. Gold finally noticed her.

"Miss Swan, how lovely to see you here. Were you waiting for me?" said Mr. Gold as he was leading the girl in the waiting room with his hand on her back. "I don't believe that you have ever met Ms. French."

"Not that I recall," answered Emma. "Hi, I'm Emma Swan, nice to meet you."

"Belle French, it's nice to meet you too. I'm actually the new librarian here starting this semester," answered the brunette with a genuine smile on her face.

"Ms. Swan here is one of the best students of the school so I'm sure that you two will get along just fine. Now Belle, you really should get going because you have a lot of work to do with the library. I'll be sure to check in on you later in the afternoon," concluded Mr. Gold, dismissing the young librarian.

"Yes, I believe that you are quite right mate. Goodbye Emma, I hope that I will see you around," said Belle as she exited into the long and crowded hallway.

Now Ms. Swan, please come in," said Mr. Gold, watching the librarian walk out of sight.

Emma grabbed her backpack and took a place in the chair that Mr. Gold was pointing to in front of his desk.

"So, Ms. Swan, what brings you here on this lovely day?"

"I know you told me that there wasn't any room left, but I really can't stay in a room with Regina," Emma blurted out.

She had been meaning to just let the conversation lead to where she wanted it to go, which meant eventually bringing out the subject again but for some unknown reason, she had not been able to hold that thought. Something about the man gave her the chills. He was sneaky and mysterious and seemed to only give attention to what could serve him later on.

"Well I don't know where you want me to put you, dearie. There's no spare room," he answered with an indifferent expression on his face.

"I've been getting kicked out of my room every other day, is that normal?" returned Emma. Sure, she had spilled the reason of her visit a bit fast but there was no way that she was getting out of here without a decent fight.

"Oh dear. Oh dearie, dearie, dear, what have you done to get kicked out?" he said, faking being shocked.

"Nothing," tried to say Emma but Mr. Gold continued.

"Wait, let me guess, you stole one of your roommate's beauty products? You took too much space in the closet? Oh no, you took a too long shower and you left no hot water for your roommate? I get that one often," he said seemingly enjoying his little joker time.

"No," said Emma, offended that he would think that she did something. "I'm not the…" started saying Emma before getting interrupted again.

"Oh, I know, you stole her boyfriend. Now this is not a very nice thing to do," he said, more mocking than anything else.

"Gosh, I didn't do anything!" yelled Emma. "What is wrong with you people? I'm not the problem here, Regina is. She kicks me out because she wants some alone time with her stupid clique or she wants to have a little alone time with some guy who she doesn't even know the name at 2 in the morning," said Emma, completely exasperated.

"Well this is somewhat normal, Ms. Swan. Ms. Mills seems to be quite the popular person so I would be surprised if she did not hang out with anyone," he answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

At this moment, Emma was mentally cursing at herself for even considering the option to drop by Mr. Gold's office. It was clearly a bad idea because nothing that Emma could say would leave the man speechless and any more willing to help her. She was starting to think that she would have more chance to get Regina to understand her point than this annoying man. _And you know what? Maybe I actually do…_ thought Emma for a moment. She had been meaning to have that talk with Regina ever since the bed incident and never really had gotten down to it. She had never tried to actually be nice with the brunette, she had always been on the offensive and maybe, just maybe, that just was not the way to go. Emma at least owed it to herself to give Regina a chance to change if the blonde asked politely. After all, her behavior could not continue this way; it was absurd and would eventually catch up to her.

Emma decided against wasting her time in Gold's office. She got up and grabbed her stuff. She was one foot out the door before she turned around and said: "Never mind Mr. Gold, thank you for your time but I think I'll handle it from here."

The man did not even seemed surprised to see the blonde exit so fast; he smiled mischievously and returned to whatever paperwork was waiting for him on his desk.  
________________________________________

Emma walked down the long hallway for what seemed like the thousandth time today. She wasn't sure if Regina would be in the room, let alone if she would be alone. Emma was slowly getting used to the surprises, however bad they were, that always seemed to pop up when the brunette was around. It had only been one week since they had moved into their new room but it seemed like a lot more time had passed; Emma blamed it on how hellish it had been, especially in the last two days.

She finally got to her room and pushed the door open gently. _Remember Em, keep it calm and focused on the subject of making it more livable in here_ , she said to herself. Emma had been thinking of the speech she was about to deliver ever since her visit to Gold's office and this same speech had made it completely impossible for her to go to her lecture before clearing things up with the brunette, so she had decided to head to their room instead of grabbing something to eat.

Emma closed the door as calmly as she possibly could, trying to hide the fact that she was nervous at the idea of talking to the brunette.

"Regina, we need to…" started Emma but could not finish her sentence.

She had turned around to see Regina looking frantically around the room. Both hers and Emma's clothes were everywhere in the room. It was a huge mess. _Oh my gosh not again_ , thought Emma, _I just finished cleaning my side!_ Forget about the calm and mature talk Emma had planned because there was no way Regina was getting away with messing with Emma's stuff for the second time in less than a week. Had this girl no boundaries? Did she not hear Emma tell her not to touch her stuff the first time around? The brunette was seriously unbelievable.

"Do you mind not throwing MY stuff everywhere?" Emma snapped angrily. After taking a closer look at the situation, the blonde noticed that not only were there no clothes left hanging in the closet or in the wardrobe, but Regina was throwing all the clothes on Emma's side, more precisely on Emma's bed. This meant that there would also be no sleeping for the blonde until everything was cleaned up, which she was ready to bet she would have to do alone.

"Where is my cheer outfit?" hissed Regina still frantically tossing everything out of the drawers.

"Do I look like I know where in the world your cheer outfit is? Like you said, it's YOUR outfit. Your things, your problem," answered Emma. "You see my clothes were neatly stored on MY side of the room and I don't recall having left your stuff on my side either so, mind explaining how all this mess got there?" Emma snapped, taking a smart-brat tone that was sure to piss off the brunette even more.

"For all I know you probably hid it because of what happened last night. You just want to make my life miserable. You've made your point, now give it back. I have cheer practice in less than five minutes and I absolutely need my outfit for tonight's game," screamed Regina, stressing out and looking at the clock.

"Pardon me, I'M making your life miserable?" said Emma, laughing. "You're the one who keeps kicking me out of my own room. Speaking of it, yesterday was the last time I was getting kicked out. Do you hear me Regina? You want to hook up, you take it elsewhere. For what's about making your life miserable, I think you could use a bit of misery for once, maybe it'd teach you to respect other people a bit more," finished Emma with a tone that warned Regina not to defy her.

"Well," Regina said flatly, clearly ignoring Emma's warning, "I believe that some people have more chance than others. Looks like you're out of luck because I'm clearly not the miserable one here. Last I recall, I slept in my own bed last night and I don't remember seeing you in yours when I woke up this morning."

"That's it, I'm out," Emma half screamed "This is the last time that you're messing with me, that attitude better change because, lady, you have no idea what I'm capable of."

"Oh and by the way, this is not you kicking me out, this is me leaving of my own free will because I'm late for my class," Emma added before slamming the door of the apartment.

"Sure it is," Regina smirked before going back to looking for her cheer outfit.  
________________________________________

Emma stormed into the hallway, not noticing the person that was casually walking towards her room. She looked up too late and collided straight into Graham.

"What the hell," she yelled, rubbing her forehead, "Can't you watch where you're going?"

"I'm sorry Emma, I don't mean to contradict you but I believe you slammed into me," he said calmly helping her up.

"You're right," Emma said, taking a deep breath, "I'm sorry, it's my fault."

"If I didn't know better, I'd say a certain regal-looking brunette is giving you a hard time," Graham laughed while dusting Emma's shoulder from whatever had gotten stuck there when she fell.

"Yeah I guess you're right, she's driving me completely insane," Emma sighed. "Anyways what bring you around here?"

"Well I was going to drop off Regina's cheer outfit," he said, pointing at the bag in his hands, "She left it in the locker room yesterday and I thought she might need it for today's game."

"Oh so you're the reason she's been tossing up the room," answered Emma sarcastically, "Better bring it to her before she burns the whole school down while looking for it. In the meantime, I'm gonna go because I'm freakishly late for my last class."

"Mind if I walk with you?" asked Graham.

"Sure but won't _her majesty_ be waiting for her knight in shining armor to come save her life?" replied Emma would a smirk on her face.

"Hmm I believe that she can freak out a little bit longer while I bring you to class," answered the handsome footballer.

"Fair enough," concluded Emma "But no slowing me down, I'm already late enough.  
________________________________________

Emma and Graham had walked silently all the way to the other side of the campus, both enjoying the comfortable silence that had settled in between them. It was peaceful for a change and this was something Emma appreciated. The little time that she had spent with Graham in the last few days had been surprisingly fun and most definitely allowed her a break from her devilish drama queen roommate.

They finally arrived in front of Emma's building and she turned around to bid him goodbye.

"So I guess I'll see you around? Go before you get beheaded by _her majesty_ ," laughed Emma as she jokingly bowed down.

"Sure," Graham said, "At least you're good for the rest of the day and night, she'll be out for a while. There's the game and then, I think the cheer squad and football team are all getting together and going out for a drink."

"Yeah finally! Anyways good luck with tonight's game," said Emma as she turned around and climbed the stairs that led to the entry of the building.

"Emma wait!" she heard behind her. She turned around to see that Graham still hadn't left the premise and she looked at him with an interrogating expression.

"I just…" he started, "I was wondering if you would like to meet with me sometime, maybe go for lunch or something," he said, nervousness apparent in his eyes.

"Like a date?" Emma blurted out.

"Well call it whatever," he answered.

Emma thought about it quickly. She still wasn't sure if she could really trust Graham but the last encounters had been nice and Emma could use the distraction from her roommate. On the plus side, not only was it fun, it was sure to piss off Regina if she ever learned about it. Therefore, Emma decided to give their new growing friendship a chance.

"Sure, but it's not a date," winked Emma before turning around and rushing to her class. _Oh my gosh what am I getting myself into? A date, seriously?_ she said to herself as she entered the classroom extremely late.


	5. Saved By The Bell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon A Time or any recognizable characters.
> 
> A/N: Hey everyone. Wow it's been a while I know, I'm really sorry for that... Honestly, the past few months have been quite busy and that's the reason I haven't really been in the writing mood... You guys know the story, life happens and stuff gets in the way... Good news is that with college over for the next almost 2 months I'll have time to write :D So with that I'll let you read this chapter but before you start reading, I just wanted to tell everyone who is sticking with me a big thank you and no matter how long I take to update, know that I will always come back as soon as I can!
> 
> I love every single one of you, thanks for reading!
> 
> StolenDance  
> -xox-

Emma had trouble concentrating during her entire class. What had she gotten herself into? She still couldn’t believe she had agreed to a date that wasn’t a date, but still kind of was with Graham. Why would a guy like him be interested in a girl like her? He was popular, hung out with little-miss-know-it-all Regina Mills, was on the football team and was gosh, oh so hot. _Wait what am I thinking?_ thought Emma, _I can’t get involved with a guy like this, he belongs with a cheerleader or something, not a girl like me!_ Emma didn’t want to admit it or even think about it, but Graham was quite good-looking and this, any girl could agree. Sure, he would probably make a perfectly good couple with a cheerleader, but then again, there was a little something about him that was different. Like he somewhat couldn’t care less about those selfish and posh people, and was looking for someone with an intellectual quotient higher than the average Tweedle-Dumb. This, Emma could more than easily provide. Sure she wasn’t head of the cheerleading team, did not wear Prada or YSL or Chanel, did not drive a Mercedes-Benz, and certainly did not come from a long line of empowered people, but she had a good head on her shoulders, could easily be a model if she’d dress up more often and clearly wasn’t an easy girl.

Emma snapped out of her daydreaming to find out her class had ended and students were already beginning to stand up and exit the room. She got up promptly, shoved everything in her bag and ran out of the building. She needed some fresh air to clear her mind and stop it from running a thousand miles an hour. 

Emma walked the distance that separated her afternoon class and her dorm slowly. She wasn’t sure what she should do about tonight and was, quite frankly, very nervous. Suddenly, her phone rang in the back pocket of her tight blue jeans. She pulled it out and took a quick glance at the text message she had just received. The blonde wasn’t very surprised to see the identity of the sender… Mary Margaret, of course. Emma was quite happy to see the _I’m out of class, wanna have a study session?_ text message. She needed to talk and didn’t know who else she could talk to other than her best friend. It was true that Mary Margaret didn’t have much experience when it came to boys; she only had a couple of dates that did not go very far and it wasn’t a secret to the blonde that her best friend was crushing hard on the football team’s captain, David Nolan. Emma clearly couldn’t ask any advice from Ruby. Yes, Ruby did have much more experience on the subject, but she was useless to Emma unless the blonde was interested in getting a one-night stand, which wasn’t the case. Therefore, Emma quickly answered her best friend, messaging her that she would meet her at Emma’s apartment in ten minutes. She was sure her oh-so-convenient roommate would not be there to bother them during their girls’ talk since she had practice for the game this upcoming evening. Thank goodness she would not be there because Emma really did not want Regina to find out that she was going on a date with one of her friends. She was sure that if the princess ever came to know about it, she would do everything in her power to ruin it, just to make Emma’s life a little bit more miserable than it already was. It really seemed to be her new favorite hobby and gosh did it get on the blonde’s nerves. She still wasn’t over Regina’s little one-night stand in their room and she still had to find a way to get back at the brunette. However, the blonde’s revenge would have to wait, because she had more pressing matters on her mind: she had a date tonight and she had no idea what to do about it. So, Emma walked as fast as she could to her dorm and met her friend at the 108’s door.  
________________________________________

“Hey Em, how was class?” said Mary Margaret, as she gave the blonde a quick hug.

“No idea,” said Emma, “I wasn’t really paying attention.”

“What? That’s not like you, was it that boring?”

“Nope, just had other things on my mind,” answered the blonde as she struggled to find her keys at the bottom of her messenger bag.

“Like what?” asked Mary Margaret as she leaned next to the door, as if she knew it would be a while before the blonde found her keys.

“Hmm, nothing important. Just wondering what to do about tonight’s date. Not sure if I should go or not…” shrugged Emma. 

She was trying her best to look casual as if being asked by Graham was the most normal thing in the world. Truth be told, she was in the middle of having a mental breakdown and a major headache just thinking about it, but she didn’t want to look too freaked out, especially because they were still in the hallway.

“WHAT? YOU GOT INVITED ON A DATE?!? BY WHO???” squealed Mary Margaret, delighted that her best friend finally had the chance to get some action in her life.

“SHUT UP!!!” hushed Emma as she finally found her keys and unlocked the door. “At least let me shut the door behind us before yelling it on the rooftops!”

“Oh my gosh,” said Mary Margaret, jumping everywhere, “Emma I’m so happy for you. Now, can I please know who it is?”

Emma closed the door to her apartment, threw her bag on the bed and went to the window where she could see the cheerleaders and the football team practicing, before turning around to face her friend. 

“Graham is the one who asked me out…” admitted Emma, once they were safe in the confinement of the shared dorm room. 

“Wait, but when? Where? Why?” blurted out Mary Margaret, confusion spreading over her face.

“Why? Really MM you have to bring my confidence down to a lower level than it already is?” snapped Emma, clearly freaked out.

“Sorry Em, you know it’s not what I meant. It’s just that you’ve never really told me you had a crush on Graham, or even mentioned anything very relevant about him, and now you’re telling me you’re going on a date with him? Sorry, but I’m a bit confused.”

“Well actually, I might have forgotten to tell you the story since it happened the same day as my dear roommate’s night adventure,” answered the blonde, suddenly remembering this important detail.

“Well please do tell, sweetie,” said Mary Margaret, seemingly very eager to hear the story. She sat down comfortably on the bed beside her best friend, like a child would do if he were awaiting a bedtime fairy tale story.

“Alright,” said Emma, getting mentally ready for the fussing that would occur once her story was told, “it all started when I went to Granny’s for my morning hot cocoa with cinnamon on top…” 

“Oh, isn’t that the time Rubes served you and you spilled your drink all over your shirt?” asked the blonde’s best friend.

“Yes, but if you’re gonna interrupt me after each sentence, I might as well shut up right now,” said Emma, knowing that Mary Margaret’s over eager attitude would mean interrupting every two seconds. 

“Sorry, I was just about to say that you could skip that part, Rubes has already told me all about it. She just forgot to mention that the guy was Graham. But lucky girl, that boy could make any girl melt like ice cream in summer!” answered the petite girl.

“Ok, that’s enough comparison for now, don’t distract me if you want to hear the rest of the story,” cut Emma.  
________________________________________

The story had been told in all its details more than once. Mary Margaret had begged Emma, with pleading eyes she just couldn’t resist, to tell her the story over and over until she knew it by heart. But after that, both of the girls stayed in silence for a moment. They both weren’t sure what to think or say about this sudden date request. Sure both of them were happy for Emma, but at the same time, it was very sudden. 

“Well Em, I’m happy for you, but I do have one warning,” said Mary Margaret, finally breaking the dead silence that was reigning, “just make sure your beloved roommate isn’t behind this, because I wouldn’t want you to get played.”

“You really think she’d stoop this low just to get to me?” asked Emma. She had been so excited and nervous about the date that she had forgotten to see the other possible reasons behind the events. Sure her roommate hated her, but somehow she had a gut feeling that Graham wasn’t one to let himself be controlled by someone like Regina. 

“I don’t know, with her anything is possible,” answered Mary Margaret.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be careful. Even if this is another one of her tricks, I’m still gonna try to enjoy myself with the one guy on the football team that might just have a head on his shoulders.”

“You’re right, you completely deserve to find happiness,” said Mary Margaret with a smile. “Soooo, when is this grand date?”

“It’s not a date, we’re just going out for dinner, and it’s tonight after the game. The team is going out for drinks or something, but Graham didn’t feel like going with them so he asked me if I wanted to grab a bite after and…” Emma’s eyes opened wide and she was speechless when she heard keys in the lock and saw the door behind Mary Margaret open, revealing Emma’s sneaky roommate.

The brunette walked in. “Oh please don’t let me interrupt your little conversation,” she said with a smirk, “I’m just picking up my cheerleading outfit for tonight.”

And just as she entered, she was already on her way out, having grabbed her outfit that was hanging in the closet. 

“Do you think she heard us?” asked Emma.

“I doubt it,” said Mary Margaret, “it’s not like she would have been eavesdropping at the door, right?”

“I sure hope so,” answered the blonde with a worried look on her face. She had enough weight on her shoulders just thinking about tonight without having to deal with her roommate on top of it. Regina meant trouble and boy did Emma know it, especially if Emma was threatening her relationship with one of her boy toys.


End file.
